Because of Faith
by Carthage5
Summary: Five years back Max ran away with a growing secret. Now found Max's daughter finds her dad.
1. Hide

I don't own Maximum Ride or any of its characters.

Max POV

As she flew away from the house Max understood she may never be able to go back. She knew the flock could take care of themselves. She had practically raised them. They had Fang too so she knew they would be just fine. Clutching her stomach, which contained a new Avian-American, she started flying east.

***Five Years Later***

"Faith Raven Ride go clean your room!" Max yelled from the kitchen. Over the years she had gotten better at cooking. Her daughter would eat the things she cooked at least.

Faith was now five. She had Max's face but black curly hair and jet-black wings like her father. She had Max's attitude too. However she knew better then to disobey he mother.

Turning the stove off she decided to make a quick trip to her mailbox. Locking her door behind her she walked down to the first floor and asked to person on duty for her mail. She looked around for a minute while she waited. On a normal day she would see her neighbors coming in and out of the building. However she saw several men in black suits. Erasers.

Staying as calm as possible she quickly retrieved her mail and walked to her apartment. She found her daughter cleaning her room. "Sweetheart pack a bag. You are going to have to stay with Sydney for the night."

"Why Mommy?"

Not wanting to scare the girl she said, "Mommy thinks someone is going to show up. They aren't people I like very much so I don't want you around them."

"Are they not nice?"

"Yes sweetie. Now go pack. I finish your room later."

After packing the Faith's blue Fluttershy backpack, Max scooped up her little girl, headed to the apartment directly in front of hers, and rapped on the door.

She was met immediately by a spelt woman in her thirties, only five years older then Max herself. The blonde haired, blue-eyed rocket scientist had become her friend throughout her separation from the flock and had even helped give birth to Faith. She knew about what had happened to her as a child too. Max must have looked slightly freighted because Sydney immediately asked what was wrong. "Do you think you could watch Faith for the night?"

"Faith, how about you go inside." Sydney said. Max put her daughter down the child ran inside Sydney's apartment and Sydney closed the door. "What's up? I have a feeling this isn't a milk run."

"I saw erasers down in the lobby. I need to through them off the trail. They can not know that Faith exists."

"They might come here. "

"They'll most likely be after me but if you have to give her to a trusted neighbor then get her back the minute you know it is safe."

"Consider it done. Now get your game face on and good luck. If they really are like you told me you'll need it."


	2. Truth

Sydney POV

Faith had settled on the couch and was watching a Teletubies video she had here for her. "Faith." Sidney said. The little girl looked away from the colored suits on the television. "I am going to need you to be a good girl for a neighbor for me." she said as she picked up the five-year old and turned off the television.

"Is it because of the people going to see mommy?" child asked.

"Yes. I am worried they might come here so I am going to see if I can through them off. It will be like a game."

The girl's eyes lit up. "What kind of game?"

"You're a spy who needs to not be found for a while. So you're going to a different place to do that. Now all spies need a cover story so nobody can track them."

"What's mine?" Faith asked excitedly.

"Yours is that I needed to go to the store for groceries. If your cover gets blown the game is over."

"Ok." Faith said even more excited.

Walking briskly, Sidney arrived at her next-door neighbors, just kitty-corner from Max. She trusted the guy in there. He was quite, just a tad dark, but trustworthy. She made it a point to know and befriend everyone in the building. She had been successful except with the couple in apartment 666. They lived on her other-side and were complete jerks. She knocked on the door. A twenty-five year old man opened the door. Nick was dressed all in black as usual and had his black hair back in a ponytail.

"Hey Nick can you watch Faith for a few minutes. I need to pick up a few things at the store. I am watching her for the night for a friend and I just remembered I need to go get some groceries."

She must have looked panicked because he said, "Sure?"

She set Faith down and Nick led her inside the apartment.

Nick POV

As Nick led the little girl inside he looked at an old picture that hung on the wall like he always did.

The picture was of five children, the oldest fourteen. In the back on the left was a curly haired blonde girl with brown eyes with a hand on a black haired African-American girl's shoulder. Next to the blonde was a boy with black hair and black eyes that looked like he really didn't want to be here. Next to him was a strawberry blonde guy with blue eyes who didn't look like he was looking strait at you. In front of him were the only two children who looked like they were related. Both had blonde hair and blue eyes. The only differences were the fact that one was a boy, the other a girl, and the mischievous grin on the boy's face.

That picture was from another time. Truth be told he was the black-haired guy in the picture. His name wasn't even Nick. His real name was Fang. The people in the picture were his family. Iggy was the one who wasn't looking strait at you. He only did that because he was blind. Gazzy and Angel were the two children in front of him. Nudge was the one in front of the blonde. The blonde was his girlfriend. Her name was Max, and she was the only one who he didn't know where she was.

She had disappeared one night five years ago without a trace. There was only a note that said goodbye.

All of the children were a result of a science experiment that had combined their DNA with birds leaving them with wings. They had spent the first part of their lives in dog crates but escaped and planned to keep it that way.

A little voice broke into his trait of thought. "Who are they?"

Fang looked down at the little girl. Surprisingly she reminded him of Max. Not only that he saw himself in her. "That is my family." he said as he continued to led the child to his living room.

Suddenly he heard a loud commotion from another apartment. It sounded like the apartment kitty corner from his. Little Faith seemed to have heard it too because she immediately tensed. He led her to the couch. "It will be fine." he told her. He searched his mind for something to calm her down. "How about a game? What do you want to play?"

The child's eyes lit up. "Can we play Hide-and-Seek?"

"I'll count to fifteen." he said and closed his eyes. "One, Two, Three…". He had just reached ten when he heard a shriek. He opened his eyes and looked around. The first thing he registered was his open front door. He ran out and saw Faith standing in front of the apartment in front of Sydney's. The door was wide open and the child was trembling. He rushed over and scooped her up. He looked into the apartment and much of it was in ruins. The couch was flipped, the television in half and chunks of the wall were missing. He looked back at Faith and saw she was sobbing, mumbling mommy between sobs. _This must be her apartment._ he thought.

He inched his way into the apartment holding Faith close. Faith jerked her head up and wiggled down from Fang and ran toward her room. He followed her and saw her picking through her ruined closet. She eventually found what she was looking for. It was a small wooden box. She held it close and picked her way through a mixture of toys and rubble and walked past Fang. This time she went to the broken television and opened the ruined cabinet under the broken item and brought out a worn old picture album. She held it close as she did the chest. He heard a voice from behind him. "How did she get out?"

He turned around to face Sydney. "We were playing hide-and-seek after we heard a noise from over here. I thought you were at the grocery store?"

"You caught me. I brought her over to you to throw off the people who attacked here."

"Do you know what attacked?" He checked over his shoulder for Faith. She was sitting by the broken cabinet holding her items close as if they were a lifeline.

"Don't you mean who?" He looked back at Sydney.

"No I mean what? The wall couldn't have been broken by anything human. I can only think of one thing and six people who would be able to do that kind of damage."

"And what would that thing be?"

"An Eraser."

Sydney looked shocked. "How do you know about those?"

"I have been fighting, hiding and running from those things cense I was a kid. I have seen the damage they can do. Do you know why they were here?"

"They were looking for Faith's mother. They don't know about her and we don't want them to."

"Faith's mom was a white coat?"

"No, an escaped experiment."

Fang froze. His mind raced. Maybe Max had been here. "Was her name Max?"

"Ya. How did you know?"

"Max was the leader in our group. When she left that role fell to me. No one knew were she went. The Flock spread out over the country looking for her. Gazzy and Angel even snuck into the School and looked to see if they had caught her."

A small voice interrupted him. "You were part of the Flock?" Fang turned around and faced Faith; she had put her items down.

"Ya I was."

"Mommy told me a lot about them. She said my dad was part of the Flock. She told me stories about Gazzy and Iggy's bombs, Nudge's fashion cense, and how Angel found Total." The little girl's face brightened as she said each memory as if she was there when they happened. Fang smiled at the fact that Max had shared her experiences with her daughter. However he had a growing suspicion that he was Faith's father. He turned back to Sydney.

"She never mentioned a Nick in her stories.", Sydney said. "Unless that isn't your real name." Her face showed a look of realization and he turned around to face Faith again. She ran at him and they both realized who the dad was.

"I think I should call your aunts and uncles shouldn't I."


	3. Found

Happy Thanksgiving every one.

Angel POV

It had been a year cense everyone had met up. They usually met at Dr. Martinez's house and Angel and her brother didn't know why they were meeting at Fang's apartment. They knocked six times and the door opened to reveal Fang. They went inside and Fang hugged them both. "Gazzy, hand over the bombs." Fang ask him as if asking for the TV remote.

"Don't you usually let me keep them?" Gazzy protested.

"Ya but we have different circumstances at the moment. We also have to be a little quieter." Angel looked around Fang and spotted a little girl with curly black hair curled up asleep on the couch.

"Who is she?", Angel asked. But before he had the chance to answer the little girl began to stir but seemed to be having a nightmare. Angel looked into her mind and saw a shredded apartment. The furniture was overturned and broken. Chunks of the walls and even the counter were missing. The girl was thinking worrying about her mom as she saw her home in pieces. She saw ghost like images fighting amongst the rubble. A wolf man and a young woman with blonde hair. The image disappeared as Fang woke the young one up.

"Faith it's ok. Everything is ok sweetheart." _Sweetheart? _Nicknames were a little odd for Fang.

"I saw mommy fighting something. It looked like a wolf Daddy." Angel froze. The girl just called Fang Daddy. Angel also faintly recognized the voice. She had heard it five years ago just before Max had left.

"You were with me when that happened though. You couldn't have seen that."

"No she saw what happened.", Angel spoke up. Fang looked at her. "I saw the dream she had. The people looked like ghosts though.

"Sometimes if I see a place I can see people who know one else seems to see. I tried talking to one once but they didn't listen to me. It's like I am seeing something that already happened." The little girl said.

Gazzy walked up behind Angel. "Fang who is this?"

"She's Max's daughter. Isn't she? She's yours too.", Angel answered for Fang.

"Yes she is. My neighbor came over tonight and asked me to watch her. Apparently Max had spotted Erasers in the lobby and knew they were after her so she hid Faith. I found out only a few hours ago that Max was here the whole time."

"Max was here?", a voice came from the door way. One motor mouth and one blind person walked through the door. Nudge guided Iggy over to the couch, as he wasn't use to his surroundings.

"Yes she was here and we didn't even know it. Now the School might have her." Gazzy said probably without thinking. The next minute someone was crying. Angel looked back at the couch where Faith was and she wasn't there.

"Where's Faith?", Angel asked.

"I'm over here." and Faith materialized were she originally was on the couch her hand raised slightly. Her little face was tear stained and her black eyes were red.

"Gazzy!", Nudge tisked. She reached over and hugged Faith, "This is her mom we are talking about. If she knows the stories then she won't want to imagine her mom there." Angel heard clatter on the roof. The sounds of a fight between two very strong entities were heard very clearly.

"Angel stay here with Faith and don't take your eyes off her for a second."

Fang POV

Everyone minus Angel and Faith ran to the roof. Sydney met them half way up and a flight of stairs later the group was on the roof. A blonde woman and an Eraser were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Fang immediately recognized the fighting style as Max's. Fang's vision turned red. He charged the Eraser and so did the rest of the Flock. As Fang's fist collided with the Eraser's jaw he could see the surprise on Max's face. She looked slightly bloody and battered. She was covered in bruises.


End file.
